


2008, Assorted

by periwinklepromise



Series: WinterIron Week 2019 [12]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Comfort, M/M, Mild Angst, Protective Bucky Barnes, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 11:30:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20007592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/periwinklepromise/pseuds/periwinklepromise
Summary: Bucky gets more than he bargained for when he agrees to help Tony clear out some old boxes.





	2008, Assorted

**Author's Note:**

> For the WinterIron prompt Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart. Angst kinda comes with the territory

Tony had decided to go throw old storage, boxes of files from now defunct parts of the company that was no longer his, bins full of fan mail, collections of little more than junk ten, twenty years later. So Bucky had been roped into helping, since he didn't have anything better to do. 

Plus, he could lift the heavier boxes that Tony couldn't. Not that Tony would admit it … and not that it was much of a boast. Tony was strong, stronger than he looked when he was wearing a suit. But Tony didn't have serum and a permanently metal arm. 

They'd decided Bucky would start on the most recent storage, and Tony would work on the older boxes where the memories might be too hard on Bucky – he had his memories back, as far as they could tell, but it still made him uncomfortable to see normal photographs as “relics” only suitable for museum exhibitions. 

Mostly, they worked in relative silence, the rustling of papers, the ripping up of tape and cardboard. Sometimes Tony showed him scraps of paper, little pieces of his and Steve's life that Howard had stored. It had been so long ago, even if it seemed much closer to Steve. Bucky felt like he had lived a dozen lifetimes after the war. 

Bucky pulled a cardboard box close, one simply marked 2008, Assorted. This was shortly before Tony gave Stark Industries to Pepper, he remembered. He stuck his metal hand in, and heard a strange clink, metal on not-soft. He tugged it out. Broken glass?

He opened the box the rest of the way. A glass … display case, it looked like, the base and some of the walls intact, but the top shattered, and some of the broken glass still scattered about. “We need to talk about safe storage policies,” he told his boyfriend, inspecting another piece of broken glass. If he'd have stuck his flesh hand in, he'd be bleeding all over the box.

Tony murmured in non-response, only half listening. 

_Proof that Tony Stark has a Heart_ the engraving read. “Tony?” Bucky urged. “What does this mean?”

“What does what mean?” Tony was at least paying attention now.

“Why do you have proof that you have a heart, and why did you break it?”

Tony's face lost some of its warm olive color. “Oh, that. It was from Pepper. From back when I had the arc reactor.”

Bucky nodded; he knew about Tony's arc reactor, metal embedded deep into his chest to keep him alive. Tony was the only one who understood what it was like, to have his body modified like that. Only Tony had been able to find a way to … Bucky blinked hard. That kind of comparison wasn't going to help.

“So what was in this?”

“The first arc reactor. The one I made in the cave where I was being held prisoner.” Tony's voice was soft, but not broken. “I made a new reactor when I got back, a better one, and I told Pepper to get rid of it, but she made that case for it instead.”

“Then why is it broken?” It didn't make any sense.

Tony sighed. “My new, improved reactor got taken out of my chest. Obadiah Stane, he did it. My father's friend, my friend. He was like a second father to me, a better one, in a lot of ways. He tried to have me put out of power in my own company, called me unstable. He took the reactor to power his own suit.”

“But … you would have died.” Bucky was cold, too cold, and the air was heavy and blue.

Tony nodded and sighed even heavier than before. “That was the intended effect, yes.”

“But ...” His lips were numb, his arm was too heavy.

“So I went downstairs and grabbed the old reactor. Had to bust it open, I was shaking so hard. Dying does that to you.”

“You almost died,” he choked out.

“Whoa, hey, no,” Tony was near his face now, his arms were around him but he couldn't feel them. “It's okay, I'm okay, I'm right here, baby, I'm here, I'm fine.”

Bucky was shaking his head, there were tears in his eyes, a lump in his throat. “You almost _died_.”

“But I didn't, baby, I didn't, I'm okay. There's nothing to worry about.”

Bucky shook his head some more, Tony didn't understand, _he didn't understand_. “You can't die,” he told him, and Tony hugged him so tightly he could actually feel it a little bit, through the haze.

“I'm not going anywhere,” he promised. “It was a long time ago.”

“Not long enough.”

“Besides,” Tony continued in that same soothing voice, “I have you now.”

Bucky burrowed close to Tony's neck, felt Tony's pulse against his forehead. Steady, albeit a bit fast, due to emotional distress. But steady. Strong. Alive. “You have me,” he agreed.

“Yeah. So I'll be okay. _We'll_ be okay.”

“Don't die.”

“I'll do my best. We're both superheroes, death is never permanent,” Tony assured him lightly, and it was a lie, but it made him feel better all the same.

Bucky looked down on the clean metal and broken glass. “Can you stay _here_ for a little longer?”

“I'll stay as long as you need.”

“Forever.”

Tony smiled. “I'll fit that into my schedule.”


End file.
